President Obama nominated two Washington women academics to replace departing Democratic and Republican members of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

If they are confirmed, women would outnumber men four to one on the five-member Commission.

“This is a significant moment in history to have four women as SEC Commissioners,” said SEC Historical Society Executive Director Carla Rosati.

Until 2009, there was only one or two women at a time on the SEC.

George Washington University Securities Law Professor Lisa Fairfax has been tabbed to replace Democrat Luis Aguilar as one of the three Democrats at the helm of the regulator. His term expired in June.

George Mason University Mercatus Center Financial Markets Working Group Director Hester Peirce was slated to succeed recently departed Republican Commissioner Daniel Gallagher.

Both women are on the SEC Investor Advisory Committee. However, the group’s latest meeting held last week was Fairfax’s first.
Investment Adviser Association President and CEO Karen Barr said she is pleased with the nominations. Consumer Federation of America Director of Investor Protection Barbara Roper called both nominees well qualified.

Fairfax would be the second African-American woman on the commission. The first was private Los Angeles securities attorney Aulana Peters who served from 1984 to 1988.

An honors grad of Harvard Law School, Fairfax has written a book entitled "Shareholder Democracy: A Primer on Shareholder Activism and Participation."

George Mason University, where Peirce currently works, is a hotbed of conservative financial regulatory thinkers.

The Financial Markets Working Group she heads is bankrolled by billionaire Charles Koch. She was once counsel to former SEC Republican Commissioner Paul Atkins.

In recent years, Peirce was a contributor to the book “Dodd Frank: What It Does and Why It’s Flawed” and she spent time as a top aide to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Richard Shelby.

.Senate Banking Committee Press Secretary Torrie Matous would only say the nominations would be heard “at an appropriate time.”